Saravana Bhavan

This is my favourite Indian restaurant in Hong Kong, based on the quality of the food. It is a worldwide chain, so you will know the standard, if you've visited any of their other restaurants. I find the food to be better than the other Indian restaurants in Hong Kong.

It's casual, not fine dining (i.e. bright lights rather than mood lighting).

The thalis, masala dosa, uttapam, idlis and specials are all delicious! Their chutneys including the gunpowder which is only found in authentic South Indian places are all mouthwatering. They do have a range of north indian dishes too, but I haven't tried those.

I find their service helpful and friendly. I usually say I am vegan and ask if the dish I want is made with ghee/yoghurt (curd)/milk/butter to confirm it won't have dairy products, as I am not sure they know what vegan is.

Very nice thali, especially the dry potato and carrot curry. Chappati could have been better is only gripe. A delicious change from the repetition of Cantonese mock meat places!

Once again we went there with the Meat Free Hong Kong meetup group. 33 of us this time. Excellent food yet again.

Updated from previous review on Tuesday April 21, 2015

After a little bit of time getting through to the staff what vegan means, I was in a group of seven last night who were given some delicious food here. Staff tried to help. I'm keen to go back. It will be interesting to see what level their knowledge of veganism has reached at that point.


Updated from previous review on 2015-12-25

food is atrocious, bad services, definitely not saravanaa bhavan standards, staff attitude is also very sad. definitely not worth money....if havent eaten there not missing out on much.

The thali is excellent & the manager kept offering us more food. It's nice to find authentic South Indian food. Friendly service & you'll leave stuffed!

I've had a lot of South Indian food before, and I was very pleased with my meal here. Our group ordered two of the meal deals which included, rasam, sambar, poori, and mini dosa. We also ordered a curry with rice and idly. All of the food was really delicious, and the various spices and flavors all worked together really well.

I had two main disappointments with the meal:

First, I was hoping the mini dosa would be crisp and delicate like the full sized dosas, but it ended up being a little bit limp (but still tasty).

Also, we stayed a long time at the restaurant, as I was catching up with an old friend. Even though we left before closing time, for the last 20 minutes of our meal, all of the staff was gathered at the front desk, making frequent glances toward us. They didn't say anything to us or explicitly rush us, but their frequent glances made me feel like I was inconveniencing them and cut our conversation a bit short.

That said, I still very much enjoyed dining here, and I would come back again

I was so happy to find out SB had finally made its way to Hong Kong. Long overdue! Having eaten here three times over the course of three weeks, I can say that they completely blow the other three contenders (Branto, Woodlands, and Khana Khazana) out of the water in pretty much every conceivable aspect. I took advantage of their big menu and tried different items every time, and there hasn’t been one dish that I didn’t enjoy.

I do consider myself a seasoned Indian foodie, so I kind of knew what dishes had or might contain dairy and experienced no trouble at all ordering vegan. To err on the safe side, though, I would still ask them if certain things had ghee/cream/yogurt/milk mixed in. The waitstaff always understood and were knowledgeable. I actually found them very friendly and nice to talk to. What’s more, service was swift and the place is clean and tidy. Can't wait to come back!

I have visited South India often - so I was very happy to hear that a Saravanaa Bhavan was opening in Hong Kong.

My next visit will be #6.

The chefs are excellent - the dishes are superbly prepared & are very tasty indeed.

8 key points -

1) Each dish is prepared as you order it - there is no 'heating up'- expect to often wait up to 30 minutes for the more complex dishes.

2) Vegans must tell them - "no ghee - no butter - no yogurt - no milk". A couple of the waiters 'get it' - but you must still question what is served to you. Sweets containing ghee have been mistakenly added to my dishes.

3) I order plates of Idli - ensuring that none of the chutneys contain dairy - they are authentic & delicious.

4) I order the South Indian Thali - with extra chapatis - regrettably they serve very 'white' rice. A good waiter will add more preparations for the dairy containing ones which have been excluded.

5) The Saravanaa Bhavan menu is standard around the world - so more vegan dishes / a vegan menu will probably never happen.

6) Friday & weekend early evenings are often crazily busy - expect to be in line for quite a while.

7) Whenever there is a Gem & Jewelry Show in Hong Kong think twice before visiting this restaurant - it fills up with Gujurati / Jain diamond dealers and the waits for a table can be looooooong.

8) Deliveries to your office / hotel room are possible - but risky for vegans.




Updated from previous review on Saturday April 25, 2015

Updated from previous review on Saturday April 25, 2015

We have been couple of times the food is very good some times the chapati not cooked well but over all we liked the food very much but not as great as their branch in Singapore. The staff is friendly pricy but the flavor of the south thali knead to be very much improved to be to the standard of the brand name like sambar and rasam is missing the spark of their other branches . Hope they are aware of it and will improve . Wishing them good luck and must try this place very hygiene place . Must Visit